Editors

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Biography

Editors (formed 2002) Editors are a British alternative rock band, from the Birmingham area. The lineup of the band consists of Tom Smith on vocals, piano and guitar, Chris Urbanowicz on guitar and synths, Russell Leetch on bass guitar and Ed Lay on drums.

Formation: The members of Editors met at Staffordshire University, where they were studying Music Technology. They started a band, deciding that a future of being sound engineers wasn't really what they wanted. They started out playing gigs in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Stafford, with Geraint Owen on drums.

Originally, the band was named Pilot. They played their first show in 2002 and changed their name to The Pride, after realizing that their first choice had already been taken by a 1970's Scottish group.

Owen was replaced by Ed Lay and the band changed its name again to Snowfield. The final name-change came when Newcastle-based Kitchenware Records released a single for them

Music Career: Editors started out supporting the likes of Puressence and Oceansize, before releasing the 'Bullets' single. The track was 'Single of the Week' on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show and sold out on the day it was released, with journalists comparing their sound so bands such as Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen as well as their contemporaries Interpol.

'Munich' was also released as a single, in April 2005 and became Editors' first Top 25 hit, earning them a slot on MTV's Spanking New Music Show in Manchester. Editors and Kitchenware Records then sealed a distribution deal with Sony BMG. The single 'Blood' was released two months later and reached number 18 in the charts.

Editors' debut album The Back Room was released in July 2005, to great critical acclaim, as well as high sales. 'Bullets' was re-released and the band landed a support slot with Franz Ferdinand. 'Munich' was also re-released and earned the band a place on Top of the Pops. This boosted sales for the album, which was certified Platinum. Editors embarked on a joint US tour with Stellastarr*. Their growing popularity in the US led to festival appearances at Coachella and Lollapalooza. They also performed 'Munich' on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

The Back Room eventually sold over a million copies and was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2006, along with Guillemots, Hot Chip and Richard Hawley but lost out to Arctic Monkeys.

Editors' second album was entitled An End Has a Start and was released in 2007. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee, who has previously worked with U2, R.E.M, Weezer and Bloc Party. The album went straight to number one in the UK album charts and was quickly followed by the release of the single 'Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors', which went Top 10.

That year, Editors played the 'Other Stage' at Glastonbury festival and also released the album's title track as a singe in September to help promote their North American tour. Whilst in the States, they played live on TV shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! And The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. When they came back to the UK, they recorded a cover of The Cure's 'Lullaby', for Radio 1's 'Established 1967' compilation.

The band then appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, playing their track 'The Racing Rats'. The fourth single released from the album was 'Push Your Head Towards the Air'.

In October 2009, Editors' third album was released, entitled In This Light and On This Evening. It was produced by Mark Ellis, aka 'Flood', who has previously worked with U2, Depeche Mode, Erasure and The Killers. Editors became the first band to play at the O2 Academy in Birmingham. Their track 'No Sound But The Wind' was selected to appear on the soundtrack to New Moon, the second film in the Twilight series, starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

When Stafford outfit Editors unleashed their debut album a decade ago, their brand of atmospheric indie tracks saw them just fall shy of an album chart topper - a feat managed by their following two records. This, 'In Dream', is now their fifth release and will be supported with an imminent UK tour, with shows on mainland Europe following in the lead up to Christmas.

Quickly showing an intention to build on the synthesised approach of more recent work, 'No Harm' is a brooding introduction to this collection. It builds solidly if not spectacularly, leaving a feeling of an elongated prefix to the main event. 'Ocean Of Night' provides something of an upbeat backdrop to the distinctive vocals of Tom Smith, while 'Forgiveness' is a reminder of their indie capabilities. Demanding attention with a thumping hook, 'Salvation' is a powerful piece, but also the signal for momentum to drop. 'Life Is A Fear' is dated electro-rock that, much like a number of tracks from the second half of 'In Dream', suffers from being uninspired and thus forgettable. The closing 'Marching Orders' clocks in at over seven minutes and aims for the epic, but instead labours through to a dull conclusion. It is symptomatic of an act who want to broaden their horizons - with which there is nothing wrong - but desperately forgetting where their qualities lay.

Editors released their fourth album 'The Weight Of Your Love' last year after a three year interval where they released nothing at all. During that time, they lost a band member (guitarist Chris Urbanowicz) but gained new relationships when they joined PIAS Records after a five year stint with Kitchenware.

It feels that they have also spent that time maturing their sound - a fact that is profoundly obvious on the upcoming second single from the album 'Sugar'. While previous releases have seen a touch more synth work going on than how they started out, this new song marks a return to their trademark guitar-based sound; which is unusual considering fans were told to expect something a little more electronic.

The song kicks off with some seriously heavy bass - as in, shake the ceiling and vibrate your boots heavy - before some melodic guitar riffs are introduced alongside gentle but minimal piano which adds a definite melancholy atmosphere. The deep, steady vocals of Tom Smith seem to have grown more powerful in their recent releases, and in 'Sugar', it certainly helps to infect the listener (if that doesn't sound too gross) as he croons out mushy lines like, 'It breaks my heart to love you' and 'There's sugar on your soul/ You're like no-one I know'.

A week in music videos... It may have received bad press recently what with the video being banned from YouTube for its nude content and such, but Justin Timberlake's new song 'Tunnel Vision' is a pretty smooth R&B track and it's not like we didn't expect from rude bits from JT; he's been talking about getting girls naked since 2002's 'Justified'! All that aside, it's what we wanted from his number one third album 'The 20/20 Experience'. Plus, it's consistent - another great track after 'Suit & Tie' and 'Mirrors'. Check out the video for yourself.

Mayer Hawthorne will soon return with his fourth album 'Where Does This Door Go' and, if it's anything like the music video to his latest track 'Her Favorite Song', it will be full of surprises. The track may be a serious mix of the melancholic and ambient, but he contrasts this by having canines run the club in this clip - and we think a bit of comedy is the best pick-me-up for a fledgling music career. Watch Mayer Hawthorne's 'Her Favorite Song' video.

Editors' fourth record has taken quite some time to emerge amid a period of change for the band. Yet it finds them revisiting largely familiar territory, albeit in a triumphant and skilful way. Originally slated for a 2011 release, album number four was to follow the more experimental curve found on 2009's In This Light And On This Evening. But, following the amicable departure of guitarist Chris Urbanowicz due to Editors' "musical direction" last year, the new material was overhauled. The addition of two new band members in the meantime means that although these songs don't push the envelope, they also don't sound like treading water.

Lead singer Tom Smith has been vocal in drawing comparisons between The Weight Of Your Love and 80's and 90's American rock. While that's certainly an accurate description of what is to be found here, it's also strikingly similar to some of Editors' best work to date as well. Predominantly jettisoning the electronic tendencies of their last album, there are echoes of the likes of The Cure, early U2, and Depeche Mode that you can spot from a mile off too. Indeed, the guitar found on opener 'The Weight' feels oddly reminiscent of 'Personal Jesus'. Perhaps the biggest debt though is to R.E.M.'s back catalogue. Ignoring the fact that 'Hyena' borrows a track title from Stipe and co., there's no doubting that new guitarist Justin Lockey has been taking notes from Peter Buck.

Lockey's recent project White Belt, Yellow Tag showed that he was no stranger to crafting catchy riffs. But here he seems to top himself, giving Editors a renewed sense of purpose in the process. Take for example lead single 'A Ton Of Love' where he's in full stadium rock mode, or the country of 'The Phone Book', his presence is keenly felt throughout. But it's not Lockey that seems to be the key ingredient to the strongest songs to be found on The Weight Of Your Love. That accolade goes to Elliot Williams' synths and strings. While understated for much of the record, they start to come to the fore on 'What Is This Thing Called Love', almost forcing Smith to abandon his usual baritone in favour of an impressive falsetto performance. It's taken one step further on perhaps the heart of the record 'Nothing', which is fully orchestrated, without any hints of guitar to be found. If this is the shape of things to come for future Editors' albums, I certainly wouldn't complain.